Hi Friends and Family !

As I enjoy my plane ride back home to Texas from visiting family on the East Coast I am thinking of ways to stay connected with everyone using my blog .... I want to make the blog interesting so that people will want to check in from time to time...soooooooo.. I have decided to incorporate some of my photography into my blog postings and to tell a story behind each picture .. One picture per post ..I love to take pictures and this is such a good way to share them.. I would appreciate your comments if you happen to tune in .   Hopefully I will hear from you .
I believe life to be a journey , thus the title of this blog , so I will be sharing pieces of my journey with you.    I hope to begin when I get home tomorrow.  And I hope that you find some substance in my efforts that cause you to want to return !
Have a blessed Christmas !

Incredible frustration!

As I was looking over my recent post, I found that it is possible for hackers or just plain creeps that can take a word from your post, highlight it and make it a link to some pretty sleazy pictures.  I just can't believe that people can find a way to make good and decent things bad.  If you should find anything on my blog that leads you to a link, please ignore it.  If I am sending you a link, I will let you know in the message.  How frustrating......if people would only use their time and talent to do good things instead of thinking of devious ways to invade other people's privacy.
My soapbox entry for the day!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ONE AND ALL!

Well, I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be grateful for.  For me, it is family, all the great people I know and freedom.  I think of all of the people in the world whose freedoms and being taken away bit by bit and many of them live day to day, like Israel, diving into bomb shelters.  I am very grateful for the cease fire in Israel and hope that God intervenes and brings peace to that area, which is the only way peace will happen there.  I am also thankful for my family and look forward to speaking to the kids each today as they enjoy their holiday.  And for many dear people that I miss and am so thankful for what each of them brings into my life.  I am grateful for the many new people that we have met along the way of our trip and how glad I am that our paths have crossed.  God is so good, and I believe that EVERY good thing comes from above.  We can never say thank you enough.

Today we got to enjoy a fantastic meal right here in our RV park.  They prepared and wonderful meal for 400 people.  It was about as good a Thanksgiving meal as you could get (other than home cooked) and included ALL of the trimmings.  There is a restaurant here in the park that draws people from all over the Rio Grande Valley and the meals there will knock your socks off.  Right now they serve breakfast and lunch and beginning in December they will serve dinner as well.  Their Fish Fries on Friday nights attract about 700 people.  All you can eat.  And the same goes for chicken dinners on Monday nights.  

We had planned to go see the move "Lincoln" this afternoon, but the turkey had its usual effect and I fell asleep shortly after we got home.  So much for the movie, maybe Saturday we will go.

Below are pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner...........

 This is the lobby of the park

 Library

Tom caught this picture of the after effects of a turkey dinner

WALKIN' INTO MEXICO!

It has been way too long since I did a blog posting.  We have been settling in here, so many days are not as interesting as others, and I don't want to bore people!  But we have done a few fun things that I would like to share with you.
It is hard to believe that we have been here for more than a month.  We will be workkampers here until March 31st, and time is just flying.  We have met so many people here and have many new friends.  Most of the people that winter in Southern Texas are from the Midwest, from Texas up through Minnesota.  There are also a lot of Canadians here and Tom even spotted a license plate today from Newfoundland.  What a drive that is!
We have discovered that EVERYONE that comes down here has their dental work done in Mexico.  It is dirt cheap compared to the US and the work is good, in fact I have heard people say that they have less pain here and the work gets done quicker.  People that have returned to their US dentists upon returning home say that their dentists tell them that the work that they have had done is very good.  A crown for $200..are you kidding me?  I received an estimate at home for $280 for two fillings which I am going to have done next week for $40.00.  Why not?  Tom is going to have some major work done while we are here...we might as well.  And pharmacies are all over the place in Mexico.  You don't need a prescription..just go in and tell them what you want at a fraction of the cost in the states...unbelievable.

The Rio Grande

We went with another couple last week into Nueveo Progresso, Mexico.  We wanted to go with someone that had been there before and she was having some dental work done.  We drove about 10 miles, parked the car and walked across the bridge over the Rio Grande.  And in 3 minutes we were in Mexico!  I was so pleasantly surprised at how comfortable we were in the town, merchants lined the streets on both sides.  Dentists, barbers, pharmacies, leather goods, clothing, jewelry, and more.  Tom even got an eye exam for $20!  There were many restaurants that are reported to be very good.  The town was loaded with Winter Texans and the locals treated us very well and were so friendly.  There is so much bad publicity about how dangerous Mexico border towns are, but this is one of the exceptions and they want to keep it that way.  I am sure that many of them are totally dependent on the Winter Texans to make a living.  We are looking forward to going back next week.
Next posting....a trip to a ranch!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Since we are staying in an RV park with unlimited opportunities to participate in activities, we decided to do something we usually do not do and go to a Halloween Party.  Here it included a dinner, a costume judging, (and there were some great costumes), and a murder mystery.  It was really a lot of fun and we not only had a good time, but had a great meal.  

We wanted to do something low-budget for our costumes, so I picked up a pair of scrubs at the local Goodwill, for $6.00.  Tom's costume was a little different, it was, well,   I will let you judge for yourself.  Let's just say that he was my patient..........

He got a LOT of laughs, and one woman even pinched his butt!!!

Below is our boss, Sherry, who is as nice a person as you will ever meet....she usually does not dress this way........really....

We are going to do some sighseeing this weekend, so we will have some local pics to send you.

See you in a few days!

Tom and Jackie

SO WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?

Sorry it has been a while since I have posted anything, but I don't want to bore you to death with things that no one cares about.  We have had a few moments worth sharing and I am going to try to repost Tom's singing (by popular demand) do that you can enjoy it ...or maybe not so much.....

Anyway, here are a few of our favorite things:

Tom and I visited Erin Troxell from Clearfield in San Antonio over the weekend.  Erin is an amazing young woman who has recently enlisted as an officer in the US Army and is stationed at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio.  She has completed her initial training and will be leaving Texas in a week for further training in South Carolina.  She is earning her doctorate and has done an amazing job over the last 20 years working her way through school while working full time raising her beautiful daughter, Hannah, who is currently serving in Afghanistan and happens to be my granddaughter!  I am so proud of them both.  We had a great visit in San Antonio, a beautiful city.  I wish all of the very, very best to both Erin and Hannah....they are both shining stars to me.

Sign at border patrol checkpoint on the way to San Antonio.

Texas oil refineries

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, was I ever in seventh heaven when I discovered a beautful, new Barnes and Noble just a few miles from where we live......a shiny new bookstore for me to wander around in.  I plan to visit it often.  

Tommorow night we attend a Halloween party and Murder Mystery Dinner here at the Resort...should be fun.  We may send you pictures, depending upon how ridiculous we look.

I am going to try to get Tom's performance for you next.  Until the next post, have a great day!

REALITY SETS IN

This is what happens when:
a.  You have been waiting forever for your karoake debut
b.  You have been trapped in a camper with your wife too long

Yesterday Tom was feverishly pulling out all the stops while practicing for Karaoke Night at Victoria Palms Resort.  Time is of the essence...it is only an hour until the big event.
Tom's songs of choice were Bobby Bare's (I am SURE that you remember him) "The Day That the Sawmill Burned Down" and "Don't Let Them Tear That Little Old Brown Building Down".  I am sure that you remember them, too   :-)...well, he should need no practice since he sang them both for the entire 2,000 mile trip from South Carolina to Southern Texas.  He had Barklee with him in the truck while he sang the whole time.  Tom did tell me that at one point he turned around to look at the dog and he had both paws over his ears.  I think that Barklee could probably sing the song...poor thing.
Well, rather than just tell you about it, I thought you would like to see the rehearsal.  Enjoy......

See you in a few days!
Jackie

OUR FIRST WEEK IN VICTORIA PALMS

Well, we are beginning to settle in.  We even ALMOST have all of our stuff out of our vehicles, but not quite.  Tonight we had a severe storm which is very unsettling when you are in an RV.  The temperature today was 102 which was 4 degrees over the record high and set off some pretty awful storms.......we rode it out and only got some heavy rain and gusty wind...it could have been much worse.
Some fellow workcampers are beginning to move in and we are making new friends.  It seems like campers are such nice people......whether rich or poor we are sort of all on an equal playing field when we are camping!  We are getting a lot of pointers from them.
We started our jobs this week and worked hard since we are getting the building ready for the season and it has been closed up since the end of last season.  As I said in an earlier post, we are required to work 25 hours a week, 12.5 hours each.  We are responsible for cleaning and keeping up the building housing the large laundromat and showers.  We are really making things look nice.  I have some pictures for you below.  Right outside the door is a grove of grapefruit trees that are just LOADED with grapefruit and they are ripening now.  We can take as many as we can eat.  They aren't as big and juicy as they would have been if there wasn't a drought.  But they are still good.  The Rio Grande Valley is a huge source of citrus.  I am going to love that!
I am also attaching a picture that I took of my TV showing Tom in the Workshop.  There are live camera feeds from all of the activity rooms here and you can check any room at any time.  Tom had gone to cut some wood for shelves and he was taking a little longer than it should take.  I thought I would check to see if he was working or yakking..and lo and behold, he was yakking!  Actually it is good to see him make some new friends....the man he was talking to also worked in a power plant for many years......I am sure he is going to have a good five months here.
Hope to check in with you again in a few days!

Blessings, Tom and Jackie

LIKE A RHINESTONE COWBOY-WITHOUT THE RHINESTONES

OK, folks.  Had a great Texas morning.  I had been wondering what we were going to do for a church while we are in Texas.  It is so hard to find a church when you love the one you belong to so much.  On the positive side, we can attend church at Seacoast every Sunday, online, which is almost like being there.  We have done that and it is great.  However someone told us about this great little church service that they have right here in the park every Sunday morning.  The "Cowboy Preacher"...and he really is a cowboy.  We loved him.  I knew he was the real thing when I noticed the ridge in his hair where his cowboy hat usually sits.  And he wears well-worn blue jeans, a well worn pair of cowboy boots and carries an even more well-worn leather Bible that is frayed along the edges---of the leather.  He looks to be in his thirties and was just great.  We started out with an old time gospel song called 'I'll Fly Away" only we sang...'I'll RIDE Away"....what fun!  I was told that in the winter there are so many people coming to the service that they hold it in the big ballroom.  I am really going to enjoy these services.....and just have to walk to the end of the street.
In the afternoon we thought we would check out South Padre Island which is only one hour from here.  Wow, is it ever nice...so much nicer than I expected.  The beaches are really nice and the red flags were up today for rough surf.  It is very clean and modern and there is a lot to do.  I want to check out the World Birding Center later on this fall.  It is so nice to have the beach so near, it does not take much longer than it does to get to the beach back home!
I am attaching some photos of Padre Island.
This week we learn our new jobs,  We actually don't officially start until the season starts November 1st, but they are allowing us to do some work for the next two weeks to earn our keep until then.  We have met some of the other workkampers that are moving in and they are really nice.  We have met so many people that could not be any nicer...they all offer to help us learn our way around and to help us get to know the area.  We really appreciare that.
Catch you later!

Love, Jackie, Tom and Barklee

SETTLING IN

Well, it is day 2 here, and we are beginning to learn our way around.  We are in the VERY southern tip of Texas in what is called the Rio Grande Valley.  It is one of the fastest growing parts of Texas due to the mild winters.  Hundreds of thousands of people come here for the winter and are called "Winter Texans" and many of them come in RVs......They begin arriving around the beginning of November and keep on coming up until the first of the year, and then begin leaving around the end of March.  We are workkampers here until March 30th.  We have a tough schedule of 12 1/2 hours each a week in order to earn a free space, free Wi-Fi, free electric, free water and sewage and free cable....not bad.  The valley has every store and restaurant you could want, the shopping is great, although my shopping days are pretty much over other than the necessities.  We are beginning to meet other workkampers from all over the country and they are really nice people. The cost of living is quite low here, which is a plus for us retirees.....I got a razor cut today at the hair salon with a blow dry and style and it was $12!  I couldn't believe it!  Gotta love these prices!  Being in Texas, gas is reasonable too.  Tomorrow night we go to a bring your own dessert/Bingo night...sounds like we are really turning into old people, huh?  But having fun.  There is even an on site restaurant here which is supposed to be really good.  And I will be sending Tom to the woodworking shop tomorrow to make me some new shelves for storage in the RV.  The one thing that will take some getting used to is that it is quite windy here, but it helps on the hot days.
Wishing my son Todd a very Happy Birthday today!  
Some pics of our park below for you to enjoy...catch you in a few days....
Jackie and Tom
The first picture is of the
"skinning" of the trees where
they remove all of the old growth on the trunks.  Hot and hard and tedious work!

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTACY

I am not sure if I should call this post "The Agony and the Ecstacy" or "From Anticipation to Delaflation"...for months we have been so excited to arrive in Mission, Texas, in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley.  I did so much research and looked and so many pictures and talked to numerous people.  Well, when we finally arrived yesterday after 18 days and 2,000 miles we were sorely disappointed to say the least.  The green grass is now dirt (no rain since March), the location not in the best part of town, and the spaces too small for our big camper.  I was fighting back tears, and losing the fight.  Despite all of the kind reviews online, it did not live up to our expectations at all.....the owners, however, were amazing.  After I agonized about how to tell them that we did not care for the park and how I was going to tell them that we did not want to say, they did it for us.  They said that they could tell that we were disappointed and would understand if we did not want to follow through with the job.....they were SO kind and understanding.  We all agreed that it would not be the best place for us and they helped us to set up our camper for a few nights until we made up our minds what we were going to do.  I know that they had to be let down, but they handled it with such grace.

Last night I went to bed feeling so low, not knowing just what we were going to do.  Head for home?  Look for another spot...oh, what to do?  But I prayed that God would provide us with something, as He always does. 

Tom talked to his friend on the phone who is also a workkamper and he recommended that we go online and see if there were any other jobs in the area.  So we did.  And there was one advertised just 20 miles down the road at an incredibly beautiful resort.  But it was SO beautiful that it was too good to be true.  So I emailed and asked them if their positions had been filled and to please call me in the morning.

Well, they did.  So we put our happy faces on and took the drive.  When we drove up our mouths were hanging open.  It was spectacular.  It was an RV resort like none other.  In fact in was voted the number one resort in Texas last year.  We met a wonderful woman who gave us an hour long tour and described the positions that she had available.  I am not going to spend a lot of time describing it to you, I am just giving you the website so that you can see for yourself.

Tom and I are going to split a 25 hour work week, 12 1/2 hours each.  Our only responsibility is to clean the laundry and shower room building 3 days a week.  We start at 6 and will be done at 9, which is even less that 25 hours.  And we have 4 days off a week and 7 days from 9:00 AM on to do our exploring and visiting and a trip home around Christmas.  We are so elated we cannot tell you.  There is an awesome woodworking shop, pool room, banquet room, onsite restaurant, weekly dances, book clubs and so much more it is just amazing.  I am flying high.  Oh, there is even a swimming pool in the shape of the state of Texas!

We move into the park on Thursday and start our jobs next week.  We finish on March 31.  Also, we not only get free lot rent, but electric, water, sewage, satellite TV and access to most of the activities.

Here is the website:  www.VICTORIAPALMS.com    Be sure to click on the video...

And we are 20 miles closer to South Padre Island.

Well, I have gone on long enough.  I will provide pictures on Thursday night.

For now......all I can say is God is good, He closed one door and opened a better one!  So like God!

SOME PICS FROM ROCKPORT TEXAS

 HAVE TO AGREE WITH THE SIGN!

FROM GALVESTON TO ROCKPORT......

Today we drove the next to the last leg of our six leg journey to Mission Texas.  It was a really nice drive around the Houston Beltway south to Rockport which is on the Gulf of Mexico just north of Corpus Christi. It is absolutely beautiful here.  There are many RV parks and there is a Seafest going on in Rockport this weekend that we will definitely check out.  We can walk to the Gulf from here.
We did not get to see a lot of Galveston since we were about thirty miles away from the city.  I was impressed with the number of young families that lived in the KOA campground as the men worked following the pipeline and oil rigs to work.  Each night we would see them come home from work dirty and tired after a hard day's labor.  I realized that they live in campers while they follow the work.  They really work hard and I respect them for that.  I would imagine that it might be a boring day for the moms and kids as they wait for Dad  to come home.
We stopped by Joe's Smokehouse for a Bar-B-Que sandwich for lunch which was so good...it was smoked pork and delicious.  I took a few pic of the place for you.
The picture of the camper is from the campground at Galveston Bay.....if you look hard you can see Barklee!
We will be here until Monday morning at which time we will leave for the last leg of the journey.  We have stayed in Charleston, Jacksonville, Destin Florida, Lake Charles Louisiana, Galveston, and Rockport on our journey and have covered over 1600 miles.  It has been fun to take in the sights along the way.
While here we hope to take in Corpus Christi and the surroundings including the military base and commissary since we will probably be using them while staying in South Texas.  The "Winter Texans" are beginning to move south!
Greetings to my friends and family!  We miss you!
Blessings,
Jackie

Our truck and camper and a picture of Galveston Bay.

WE HAVE ARRIVED!

Well, we had our Cajun meal, and I must say that it was one of the best meals I have ever eaten.  We asked the owner of the campground where we were staying (he is a native of the area) where we should go eat, and it took him no time to tell us.  He told us exactly what to order and we did, at least most of it...we could not have eaten that much food.  We ordered the gumbo, Tom had chicken and sausage and I had shrimp and crab and it was unbelievably good.  After that we shared a seafood platter and got away with an incredible meal at a very reasonable price.  It was amazing!

This morning, after a night of torrential downpours, we left the rain and took off for Texas.  It REALLY rained hard in Louisiana but they said that they needed it, as does Texas.

We were only 27 miles from the Texas border, so it did not take long.  We were glad to get off of the washboard roads of Louisiana, they are really bad.  We drove 112 miles today to Galveston Bay, a nice short drive.  We stopped at the Texas Welcome Station and took a few pictures to prove that we made it.  There is less than 400 miles of our trip left....however, EVERYTHING in Texas is far from everything else, so it will still take a little time to get to Mission.  We will be here until Thursday morning, leave for Corpus Christi, where we will stay for four nights, and then drive next Monday morning to Mission.  So far we are right on schedule.  Tom has done a great job driving the fifth wheel and Barklee has done well as our passenger.  And we have met very nice people along the way.

Here is the proof that we are actually here!

Catch you in a day or two!

DOWN IN THE BAYOU

Yesterday I asked Tom to take me on a Swamp Tour for my birthday...(even though it was the day after) and we went on a highly recommended tour in the bayou town of Beaux Bridge, Louisiana, in the heart of Cajun country.  It is really beautiful here, a different kind of beauty than that of Florida.  It is fascinating to me how each state has its own distinctive look.  We drove over so many bridges as we traveled I-10 including a gorgeous drive into Mobile Alabama over a really long bridges through the marshes and over the Gulf of Mexico.  It is really a beautiful city to drive into.  The drive through Baton Rouge took us over some magnificent (but scary) bridges over huge waterways, including the Mississippi River.  Then once in Louisiana we drove over incredibly beautiful swamps, rivers and creeks. I am loving this trip.
Anyway, the swamp tour was led by a native Cajun that grew up in the bayou (which is a waterway, or creek, through the swamp).  We saw MANY alligators as well as birds and other wildlife.  The swamps are very similar to those in South Carolina but with a slightly different look.  I loved it.  Here are some pics from the tour:

Cajun Camper

This was a Cajun deer stand until the bottom rusted out!

This is a bayou.

Well, we will be in Louisiana one more day (four total) and we have not yet had any Cajun food, so we will venture out for lunch tomorrow for the new experience.  I can't wait!
Hopefully I will post again tomorrow or Sunday, which is the day that we arrive in Texas!  Our first stop there will be Galveston, which is only 2-3 hours from here, should be a nice, short trip!
See you later, alligator!